The Man Of Steel and its Promotional Partnerships... Super Marketing?

Later this week the world will witness the launch of the hugely anticipated Man Of Steel franchise. Capitalising on the popularity of super hero films Warner Brothers are hoping the most recent caped crusader adaptation to hit the screen will bring with it broken records at the box office and a steady stream of investment. And as long as they can keep the public interested in the series The Brand Avenger can't see why they wouldn't be able to achieve this.

Warner aren't the only company who are hoping to capitalise on an investment in the film as several other firms outside of the entertainment industry have also signed themselves up to lucrative contract deals. Companies ranging from Lidl to No Fear are hoping to boost revenue streams through investing in Clark Kent with some companies as Chrysler and Nokia going as far as to design actual products around a Superman theme.

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/brands-take-off-for-the-man-of-steel/4007015.article

There is a long history of companies seeking out promotional partnerships with the silver screen to complement their marketing efforts. Regular readers of The Brand Avenger will remember that Audi looked to capitalise on Iron Man 3 mania through a lucrative sponsorship deal. There are of course countless other examples of how some of the biggest brands in the world look to boost their reputation and enhance visibility through promotional tie ins with the entertainment industry.

If you are looking for a simple way of capitalising on a bit of quick and dirty exposure then promotional partnerships will certainly give you that. However I wonder how many companies have well and truly thought of a long term marketing strategy before they have decided to fork out on marketing investment and exclusivity rights for the Man Of Steel.

http://www.licensing.biz/news/11485/Man-of-Steel-flies-into-LIDL

Lidl is an interesting partner for Man of Steel when it comes to distribution rights. Surely for a retailer as long as you have accessibility and location locked down the most important next step is to ensure customers are shopping at your stores and not your competitors. However if Lidl well and truly believe that the exclusivity of selling Superman franchise will lead to improved levels of customer loyalty then this is misguided at best.

Even the biggest brands are accountable for poor marketing decision making especially when it comes to partnerships with movie features. In so many ways Coca-Cola are leaders when it comes to leveraging brand perception however in so many other ways they failed when it came to the Coke Zero/ Skyfall promotional partnership.

http://www.thesocialpartners.com/2012/10/22/coke_zero_james_bond_skyfall_fail/

As demonstrated in the above article if you don't have a well planned out, logical strategy for placements you risk the chance of becoming more quickly forgotten than the prestigious red carpet ceremonies that come hand in hand with the launch big films. In the case of Coke Zero the brand team may have initially had a clear and concise brief which supported the idea at first. In this instance The Brand Avenger wouldn't be too surprised if the objective was to win market share and brand recall of Coke Zero with the 18-35 make demographic. However, when you well and truly analyse some of the metrics behind Coke and Skyfall you quickly begin to realise that along the way the message became lost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDiZOnzajNU

One of the best examples of Coke's lack of engagement can be demonstrated through the lack of buzz generated after the above You Tube viral. Despite 3 million views in the weeks after its release the campaign quickly lost momentum, most evident in the fact that the campaign only returned a couple of hundred tweets which is a disaster and not a sound long term investment choice.

Maybe things would be different if Coke pipped Heineken to the post to become the official replacement of the famous Vodka Martini's shaken not stirred.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2206593/James-Bond-swaps-Vodka-Martini-pint-Heineken-controversial-product-placement-deal-new-film.html

£28 million is a lot of money to pay for a lucrative product placement. From a brand recall point of view for Heineken the lure of extensive product placement and exclusive access to TV ads with Bond was too much for the company to resist and made more sense than the deal Coke Zero took out. But in terms of whether the brand investment in promotional placements is worth it i'm afraid the answer is there is no answer. Put pure and simple no one knows which makes the expense even harder to justify if you are looking for return on investment.

http://www.livescience.com/24957-james-bond-product-placement.html

We cannot say for sure that showbusiness and investment in strategic partnerships can yield big returns however marketeers need to be realistic when they look to undertake such partnerships in regards to what they get back. If you are well and truly looking to win the loyalty of your casual and regular customers you are not going to get it through claiming exclusivity on a movie franchise with a limited shelf life. If you are looking to partner up with entertainment entities I would suggest taking a leaf out of Experian's book and look to build a more viable long term strategy.

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/ticketmaster-eyes-growing-insight-market/4007017.article

Insight and big data are key trends and huge growth areas for all industries. Through partnering with a data specialist Ticketmaster may not be in the front row when it comes to sponsorship deals and partnerships but that won't bother them if they are selling out the theatre.